‘They surrendered’ - Pundits debate Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s position as Rangers defender issues apology to fans

Neil McCann insists Rangers’ nightmare 7-1 defeat to Liverpool should NOT threaten Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s position as Ibrox manager.

The former Light Blues midfielder leapt to the defence of the Dutchman in the wake of their chastening Champions League loss to Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.

The English Premier League outfit consigned the Glasgow giants to a record-breaking home defeat, scoring six second half goals with substitute Mohamed Salah converting the fastest hat-trick in the competition’s history.

On the back of several heavy defeats and lacklustre performances over the past month, some sections of the Gers faithful believe Van Bronckhorst’s position is untenable but McCann disagrees.

However, the ex-Scotland international raised concerns over the way his players decided to throw in the towel after performing with credit during the opening 45 minutes.

Speaking on BBC Sportsound, McCann said: “This result should not reflect on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s position as Rangers manager - absolutely not.

“What will hurt Gio is the record defeat and it’s going to take a wee bit before this sting comes out of the system. It was the way they surrendered and got overran with quality.”

Fellow pundit Steven Thompson suggested there won’t be serious pressure on Van Bronckhorst just yet but warned the his players to accept the criticism that will come their way.

He stated: “It’s a difficult one. Everyone can see that the gulf in quality since Rangers entered the group stages, but the performance levels haven’t been what the supporters will have expected.

“To lose the goals they’ve lost has been embarrassing for the club. it’s four games, four defeats, one goal scored and sixteen conceded - that’s not good enough. The supporters will be furious.

“The league takes priority this season, and while they’re still in the hunt, i don’t think the manager will be under pressure. If things were to turn sour domestically then he’d be under pressure. The club has to face the humiliation from tonight and previous games.”

Defender Borna Barisic apologised to supporters in the wake of Wednesday’s result, which equalled the club’s worst ever European defeat - a 6-0 loss to Real Madrid in the European cup preliminary round in October 1963.

He admitted: “It’s hard to find the right words after that. We can talk about how Liverpool has £800million in players, and that we are new in the Champions League and still learning.

“But this is just unacceptable, to lose seven goals at home. It’s unacceptable for the club, for the players and, most of all, for the fans. They applauded us after the game, but we did not deserve their applause.

“I’m very angry and very hurt. We talked in the last three games about how hard it is (in this competition), that teams have spent 400 or 500 million on players. But when you lose 7-1, it’s hard to find an excuse.

“I don’t know when I’m going to get to sleep because right now, it hurts a lot. I know this is Liverpool, and they’re a big team, but we started so well in the first half. We were positive after scoring and did what we said we were going to do.

“But now it’s hard to find the right words and I can only apologise to our fans for the second half performance. You lose the things you said you will do, and they show their quality.

“We will need to see the game again, but there’s no doubt that their transition was one of the things that killed us. I can analyse now, but I don’t want to because my hearts is very hot and my brain is very hot.

“We disappointed our fans, our club, ourselves. We have to recover when you play at a club like this.”